Human Beats 340-Pound Robot in Football Kick-off

San Francisco’s football team may have its share of detractors, but in a face-off against a robotic kicking machine, Niners placekicker Joe Nedney came out on top.

Nedney was pitted against a 340-pound titanium robot called Ziggy. The event was billed as a man-vs.-machine battle in a leadup to Robogames, a robot competition event that will be held this weekend in San Mateo, California. Nedney kicked a football 45 yards while Ziggy, the robot, failed to clear the goalposts in two attempts at that distance. For a detailed rundown of the play, check out Wired Playbook’s coverage.

Ziggy is no lightweight, though. A star in the robot world, it has a titanium-covered armor plate and has been a gold medal champion at Robogames for three years in a row. Ziggy’s heft and power have made it one of the most powerful amateur robots built. For instance, in one video, Ziggy tosses a washing machine around as if it were a ball.

In practice sessions, Ziggy has been able to kick a ball over 60 yards. But that was on a concrete surface with no headwind.

The football field’s grass surface meant that a major portion of the energy released by Ziggy’s pneumatic arm ended up driving the robot deeper into the ground rather than providing thrust to the ball, explains the BotJunkie.com website.

But all that’s just excuses. For those keeping score, Nedney is the winner — and humans rule.

For now, at least.

See below for a video of the Nedney vs. Ziggy kick-off, plus a closer look at Ziggy.